Lesego ‘Les Da Chef’ Semenya dishes up foodie advice

Lesego Semenya, known as “Les Da Chef”, didn’t expect such meteoric success when he walked out of a well-paying Sandton job to pursue his love of food.

Now, with an internationally rated food blog and and a reputation as a great chef, his first cookbook, Dijo: My Food, My Journey, is already a bestseller.

He took time out from cooking up new ways of Africanising traditionally European dishes to chat about food and his book.

Were you always a chef?

I followed the more traditional route of going to university, landing a corporate job and settling into the world of suits and ties. Then I realised I wasn’t happy in an office and I decided to change my life.

After about nine months of travelling around South Africa, I decided to go into hospitality and applied to a chef school. The goal wasn’t to become a chef but to gain an understanding of food.

What was transitioning from a full-time job to to being a student again like?

Going from being an office worker to literally doing manual labour was a bit hard, but I focused on the end goal and it became easier. The world of chefs is completely different to anything I’d experienced. It’s disciplined, with strict rules, and I had to humble myself and absorb as much as I could.

A lot of my fellow students were years younger than me, but my age helped me handle the stress of student life.

Tell us about your blog being named one of the top 100 chef blogs in the world

My blog started about seven years ago, shortly after I placed my brand on social media. It was in response to people asking me for recipes and advice on Twitter, so it’s about life as a chef, food and recipe advice. People warmed to the personal stories of my journey and what I’ve been through to become a chef and, over time, it gained popularity.

How is your cooking different to that of your western counterparts?

Although I’m a fine-dining and classically trained chef, I celebrate my upbringing. At first, I only cooked French cuisine and other really fancy European dishes, but I realised that to spread African food globally, as a township-born chef, I would need to start showing the world what our food is about and the possibilities it holds. I now cook a fusion of various global cuisines with an African twist.

How long did your cookbook take and did you expect it to do so well?

It took about a year-and-a-half to conceptualise, another year to write and about six months to finalise the photos, editing and aesthetics. I didn’t expect it to become a bestseller because I wrote it more for myself than other people, actually.

I wanted to create a cookbook that I would use myself. A lot of chef books are written for other chefs who forget that the books are meant to be used by everybody. I’m glad people have embraced it.

Any parting words for aspiring local celebrity chefs?

If your goal is to become a so-called “celebrity chef” then this industry is not for you. The majority of chefs who become famous are the ones who don’t crave the spotlight. Let your passion for food and the industry speak for itself, and the accolades will follow in due course.

The success of Lesego “Les Da Chef” Semenya is what can happen when you give up a well-paying corporate job to pursue your passion.

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